The competitive edge

For 60 years, some of the country's most specialized and important science has gone on quietly on 1,500 wooded acres in DuPage County.

Established after World War II to develop nuclear energy as a civilian power source, Argonne National Laboratory has been run by the University of Chicago for the federal government ever since.

When the contract expires in September, though, the university will have to compete for it for the first time. Disgusted over management and security problems at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nuclear weapons facility where the atomic bomb was created in 1945, Congress has ordered contracts on five of the nation's energy labs opened to bidding as they expire.

This is a good idea.

The labs have been run by various universities under no-bid contracts since they were founded, all more than a half-century ago. Lack of competition can lead to complacency and mismanagement, a particularly unsettling environment in which to make nuclear weapons.

For decades, concerns about safety, security and financial problems at Los Alamos were trumped by its long history of scientific excellence. Run by the University of California since 1943, the lab had been cited repeatedly for problems, including missing documents, multimillion-dollar cost overruns and the unexplained loss of millions of dollars in equipment.

Then in 2004, the reported disappearance of two computer disks containing classified information caused a public uproar. It took weeks to determine that the disks never existed. The five-month stand-down that followed cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and prompted Congress, finally, to put its foot down. Early last year, the Department of Energy set out to find a better manager for Los Alamos.

That better manager turned out to be ... the University of California. Its scientific track record--and its new alliance with Bechtel National and other corporate partners--overcame a strong challenge from a Lockheed Martin-University of Texas team. The university kept its contract, but only after raising its game.

From the beginning, the DOE said the lab contracts would be awarded based on good science and sound financial management, in that order. It said nothing about politics. But inevitably politics will play a role with millions of dollars in government contracts at stake.

Already the University of Chicago has hired Washington lobbyists to defend its contract to run Argonne. Some members of the Illinois congressional delegation have been enlisted to lean on the DOE.

The U. of C. has also partnered with Northwestern University and the University of Illinois to strengthen its bid.

Potential competitors, especially those for whom this would be a money-making venture, are likely to hire lobbyists of their own. As things heat up, the DOE should remember its priorities: Science first.

Under the stewardship of the University of Chicago, the work done at Argonne has made Illinois a world leader in nuclear research and a magnet for some of the finest scientific minds on the planet, with no hint of the mismanagement and scandal that have plagued Los Alamos. As long as this decision is based on merit, not politics, the University of Chicago should have no trouble making its case.